Kang the Conqueror has accepted the Grandmaster's challenge of selecting a team of champions to face each other in a cosmic chess game. The stakes are the power over life and death. Kang's champions are the four Avengers Thor, Captain America, Iron Man and Goliath, who face the Grandmaster's Squadron Supreme. Three Avengers win their matches, but as Goliath faces the Whizzer, the Black Knight attempts to aid him, violating the rules of the game. The Grandmaster whisks all game participants off to the next round, leaving the Black Knight in the lurch.